Big sailboat sunk by tornado

Saw a story this morning (Yacht sunk by tornado) that a 56 meter sailboat carrying “Britain’s Bill Gates” sunk at anchor in a storm near Palermo.

They said 1 died and 6 "lost" for the moment !!

A bit more info appears in this article, including some interesting Autonomy-related discussion.

It's difficult for me to get my head around how a professionally crewed yacht of this size can go down while at anchor, even if the storm was significant. I find myself wondering if the yacht would have had a better chance at survival in this storm had it not been anchored. It will be educational -- for me at least -- to read what the insurance investigation reveals.

Video report from Super Yacht news guy. He mentions towards end that last AIS position shows Bayesian underway at 2.6 knots. Either the AIS has not been reset to at-anchor, or perhaps the yacht was self-positioned holding station with onboard equipment. Only speculation at this point.

More questions than answers at this point.


Peter

Noteworthy is the comments by the captain of a nearby mega yacht in the NYTs. He said he didn’t see the sinking as he was occupied positioning his command to weather the brief extreme conditions. Information is limited but suggests a waterspout not a microburst. Ideally at anchor regardless of the size of the boat you want to face the winds directly on your bow. Hence the nearby captains comment.
Several areas of speculation for me. What happened that directly lead to the sinking? I would suggest rapid downflooding. Perini Navi has a stellar rep. My understanding is air handlers control the internal environment on vessels this large. Also the ingress of water from an open door or port light should not cause such a rapid sinking. One would think the vessel could dewater sufficiently. Hence I wonder if sufficient water came into living spaces which are above the waterline so stability was lost and she turned turtle . Look forward to the investigation’s conclusions with interest. One would think there would be sufficient compartmentalization to allow enough reserve buoyancy as to prevent sinking if the majority of glass and other piercings held. Has the move to open spaces gone too far in modern yacht design? And the absence of watertight bulkheads between living spaces.. Was the vessel not appropriately positioned? If so why? This is a tragic surprise to me. Much like the Pride of Baltimore where a vessel was driven under by wind alone. If a vessel of this pedigree and size with skilled professional crew can sink at anchor makes one think about design parameters. Of course the above is unsupported speculation. Hopefully this was due to human error or markly unusual circumstances. Have come to think we sail in a world very different than in the past. Due to MMCC or ascertainment bias seems more cyclonic storms out of season, more rogue waves, more microbursts and waterspouts. Heart goes out to all involved. Death and emotional trauma of great magnitude. Truly tragic.

Rumor has it the rigging failed as the vessel whipsawed back and forth while at anchor. The ballast or mast then tore loose from the bottom of the hull like a beer can ripping. Speculation 101 I know.

It seams the mast is still in place.

Have studied the sail plan of this yacht. One sees three headsails on rollers. Even when rolled they provide much windage. One sees the main enclosed when dropped and would think supply less windage then the three furled headsails. Also the furled headsails and mast would contribute to loss of righting arm. The house seems fairly balanced and being a sloop the mast as well. But overall would think the bow would fall off in a strong wind. Perhaps this contributed to this tragedy. Again know nothing with certainty until the report is in.hopefully made public in some form. Post #6 seems a reasonable speculation as an alternative. But with the stick gone unless there was a hull piercing or loss of ballast (shades of Oyster?) stability would be increased. The hull is being dove on thinking dead are still in their cabins. That suggests a very sudden event.

Total speculation, but could a lightening strike blow through the hull creating unmanageable flooding? It seems to have gone down very fast, so something big and catastrophic happened.

When I first read/saw the witness report of the sinking, the thing that stood out was how quickly the ship capsized and sunk. That would seem to be from a stability issue. My first thought was did the ship have a lifting keel?

I watched the video linked above last night and there are comments stating the ship had a lifting keel and that AIS showed the ship draft at 3.8 meters which implies the keel was not down. If this is the case, it explains the sudden capsize and sinking.

Just a thought.....Many roller furling systems have blown open in hurricanes, a waterspout/tornado can create that type scenario just long enough to have full headsails encounter the last of the tornadic winds, then any aftermath winds that last.

Certainly would be bad if a lifting keel was involved and it contained ballast.

Again we just don’t know. Would think headsails are hydraulically furled on a vessel this size. Components are beefy. Even one furling set up failing would produce a lot of noise but the sheets would not constrain the sail completely if it was put to bed the common way. Yes wind resistance would go up dramatically and the bow fall off but would think it wouldn’t lead to such a sudden sinking. We just need to wait for more information. Worst case would be a knockdown not inversion or sudden sinking unless massive down flooding also occurred imho. would take a huge amount of wind to even knock it down as the wind dumps off the top as you heel and its a ship not a boat . Would think even if a sail unfurled something else also happened.

From an article I just ran across:

What is the danger of being hit by a waterspout?​

The energy from the winds in a waterspout can cause damage and injury, but the biggest risk involves a so-called knock-down, which can tear off a boat’s mast.

While yachts are generally more difficult to capsize than smaller dinghies, a knock-down occurs when the yacht is struck by wind or waves with sufficient force to push the mast parallel with the water. The most serious scenario occurs when the mast drops below the water line.

Lynch’s yacht was fitted with a 75-metre mast, the world’s second-tallest.

In one extraordinary incident last year, 15 waterspouts were recorded in a single day by the International Centre for Waterspout Research off the coasts of Italy, France and Spain.

psneeld said:

Just a thought.....Many roller furling systems have blown open in hurricanes, a waterspout/tornado can create that type scenario just long enough to have full headsails encounter the last of the tornadic winds, then any aftermath winds that last.

Certainly would be bad if a lifting keel was involved and it contained ballast.

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Some of the reports said that ship was dismasted by the waterspout. If the wind had unfurled any of the sails that could have led to a dismasting and if there was an undeployed lifting keel... :-( The ship looks like it had a furling mainsail.

Yep, she had a lifting keel, Boat Review: Perini Navi 56m | Yachting

"DRAFT: 13’0″ keel up, 31’11” keel down"

Yep, she had a lifting keel, Boat Review: Perini Navi 56m | Yachting

"DRAFT: 13’0″ keel up, 31’11” keel down"

Well spotted dannc - a failure of the keel (or keel box) is the only explanation I can think of for such a sudden complete knockdown and sinking.

I have personally seen the torsional effects of extreme cyclonic
winds on 3’+ standing trees. Dramatic to say the least. If the mast on the vessel in question was securely attached to points below the waterline I’m curious as to calculated torsional stresses with cyclonic torsional winds.

Between the keel, ballast or mast designs below the waterline I’d guess the builder is doing some immediate re-looks and forensic structural analysis.

Video from a security camera on land. Difficult to see much, but the masthead light seems to continue visible even after the hull cannot be seen !??

Nick F said:

Vídeo mostra momento em que iate com bilionários 'some' em meio a tornado raro na Itália

Iate de luxo com bandeira do Reino Unido navegando costa da Itália naufragou após ser atingido por fenômeno natural na manhã de segunda (19). Até o momento, autoridades confirmam a morte de uma pessoa, e equipes buscam por seis desaparecidos.

g1.globo.com

Video from a security camera on land. Difficult to see much, but the masthead light seems to continue visible even after the hull cannot be seen !??

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Looks to me that the image was just obscured by rain. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing the mast on the water, which means the hull was on it's side.
Whatever the cause was, fact is that the vessel sunk and 7 people lost their lives. Divers have seen bodies inside the wreck, but they cannot enter due to floating furniture and other debris. Divers also have only 12 min at that depth, so chances they will go into the wreck are nil, it is just too risky.
My guess is they will cut off the mast, then raise the vessel and then retrieve the bodies. Or they will have to bring in rebreathers, start cutting a hole in the hull and get in that way.

In all a very sad story and it just shows that nature can kill, it can hit all of us, no matter how prepared we are. If a tornado (or water sprout) hits you then you can be toast.

Last week in roughly the same area (formentera / mallorca) quite a number of boats were beached, including a 30 mtr Wally sailing yacht (owner by Giorgio Armani). And only yesterday a freak storm hit the islands of Paxos and Corfu in Greece, several boats beached and one sunk as well (Bavaria 45).
In my opinion there was nothing the crew could have done to prevent this disaster. When the thunderstorm started I assume all essential crew were wakened to prepare the boat for bad weather but they left the guests asleep. No need to wake them up for just a thunderstorm, the boat has been through that many times. Since the chef has to make breakfast I think they decided to let him sleep as well, which is probably the reason why he is now dead. All the other crew were busy and that is why they survived.
Of the 12 passengers 6 died and 6 (of whom 1 baby) got out alive, but barely if we have to believe the accounts.

Extremely sad story, but in my opinion a freak event, could not be prevented and was definitely not expected.

How in the world based on scanty reports can anyone possibly say what could or could not have been done?

This is supposed to be the same ship but getting knock down in a storm in NZ in August 2019. Notice the cat flipping in the wind.

Freaky, not just what happened, but the NZ event was almost exactly five years ago.

The reports are not so scanty anymore. Don't know about the US, but here in Europe it is the story of the day, all the news agencies are jumping on it, all the history of the vessel has been published, names of the victims, eyewitnesses accounts, statements of the authorities.
It is clear they were hit by a water sprout, there was an eye witness, Fabrio Cevalu, who did see the water sprout when he was about to go out fishing. He waited for the water sprout to pass, then went out and found all the debris.
2 passengers were woken by the thunderstorm, could not sleep, so went out to the deck and that is why they survived.
I.o.w. a lot of info is already out there, but I have no idea what you guys are hearing in the US.

dannc said:

This is supposed to be the same ship but getting knock down in a storm in NZ in August 2019. Notice the cat flipping in the wind.

Freaky, not just what happened, but the NZ event was almost exactly five years ago.

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I imagine that the yacht is much more tender with the retractable keel raised (as it would be when in port)

Are there detailed weather forecasts available? From all sources if the usual sources are pretty thin.

What specific actions were taken by the crew before, and during the storm?

What were the captain's standing orders for heavy weather and then actual orders during the storm?

What was the status of all sails?

And those are just a few things an accident investigator would be asking at the beginning of an investigation.

Mambo
FT is covering this pretty good given the UK connection. Any statements from the Captain? How about divers reports on hull integrity? For insurance, legal and liability issues not much is being released until facts are in. With the UK sending a full marine investigative team the details will slowly emerge.

Toy garage door left open? Just a guess.

sunchaser said:

Mambo
FT is covering this pretty good given the UK connection. Any statements from the Captain? How about divers reports on hull integrity? For insurance, legal and liability issues not much is being released until facts are in. With the UK sending a full marine investigative team the details will slowly emerge.

Click to expand...

According to the divers the hull is still intact, in fact the whole boat is still in good condition, the mast has not broken as was suggested by some agencies.
Divers have seen bodies inside the wreck, but cannot enter due to floating debris inside the wreck. Since this vessel is a a depth where you need a special gas mixture to be able to dive safely, they have called in tech divers from other parts in Italy.
There are some rumors that they have now made a hole in the hull to be able to get into the vessel, but I have not seen that confirmed anywhere.

Since most of the crew made it out safe I think it is safe to assume that they were all awake while this storm happened. The only ones that did not make it were the ones that were asleep, 6 passengers and the chef (who had to get up early to make breakfast). So soon the investigators will be able to piece together what happened, should not be too complicated.
Main question of course is 'can you do anything against a water sprout ?' and if so, 'what ?'

From BBC
Apparently a waterspout and knockdown causing ship to lay on starboard side. A center cockpit which would fill with water even with scuppers. Tall mast contributed to windage as did furled headsails.
Noteworthy statement made yacht not designed to survive BF9 or above winds. No statement as to why apparent rapid downflooding. From several sources water in med extremely warm (MMCC) and many t-storms with waterspouts in Italian waters.


If I’m ever in position to own or crew a sailing mega yacht want the same characteristics required for ocean sailboat races. AVS 120-130, and low down flooding risk. In my entire life outside sailing dinghies I’ve only had one knock down. It was coastal (block I. Sound) on a clear pleasant day. I was off watch and asleep. Boat was a Pearson 424 and came back slowly (all rags up). White squalls, waterspouts, rogues and micro bursts happen. I think our climate is changing and these “unusual “ events have become less unusual . This was a coastal event. It would have likely sunk my current boat even buttoned up. Probably likely sunk yours.

Hippocampus said:

This was a coastal event. It would have likely sunk my current boat even buttoned up. Probably likely sunk yours.

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Quite possibly, but it's hard to say until there's a better idea of the chain of events. If the issue started with a wind induced knockdown, then an average powerboat may have faired somewhat better. The big questions in my mind if getting hit by a waterspout would be whether the windows and superstructure survive. And if the boat gets heeled far enough for downflooding to become a factor (or enough water gets thrown into a cockpit, etc.), but with no rig for the wind and water to push on there's far less leverage to heel the boat with.

It seems that almost every incident I can find mention of (or video of) a boat being hit by a waterspout involves a sailboat and pretty much every incident describes a knockdown. I did find an older thread here where someone saw the aftermath of a sport fish running through a waterspout. The description was that antennas and all other lightly attached hardware were torn off the boat, but the boat made it through.

My thought is that any boat taking a direct waterspout hit is likely to suffer significant damage, but as long as it doesn't flood badly during the short lived event then you'll probably still be floating.

Actual strength of waterspout and distance from wall (similar to hurricane) can have a lot todo with probable danger/damage.

Look at the aftermath of tornadoes on land where one house is literally torn off its foundation and the one across the street has minor damage.

The only reports that MIGHT be accurate is from a knowledgeable person actually aboard that boat. Darkness and rain didn't make some of the eyewitness reports seem too accurate

Any thoughts on vessel’s initial stability with centerboard - ballast raised while at anchor and +gale force winds?